Anti-Water Charges' Five Now in Jail 13 Days

Free the Protestors - Jail the Bankers

The Government acting on behalf of corporate and financial power who have set their eyes on our Water have disgracefully jailed 5 citizens of this country because they said No to Austerity. We demand their freedom immediately. The five are: Derek Byrne, Bernie Hughes, Michael Batty who are imprisoned for 27 days and Paul Moore and Damien Oâ€™Neill who are imprisoned for 56 days.

There is clearly one law for the rich and one law for the rest of us. Where are the bankers and developers who bankrupted this country and led to widespread hardship and a huge increase in suicides in this country, deaths which have devastated families.
And what of the people who have died for lack of resources in our health system and of those evicted from their homes. It is time we stood up to this undemocractic sham and demand our country back from the claws of the elite.

Keep an eye out on social media and any websites related to the campaign against water charges for info on upcoming protests against the jailed 5.

Call-out for students for this autumn's MA in Community Education, Equality and Social Activism at Maynooth - please circulate!

We have a lot going on at the MA - a talk next week "Gypsy rebellion? Leadership, NGOs and activism among Spanish gitanos"; in April John Holloway is giving a two-day seminar "Think Hope, Think Crisis" and not long after that we're co-organising the "Joining the dots" Grassroots Gathering in Dublin - all part of a wider Dublin Spring of resistance and creation bubbling up from below.

Michael Hudson, interviewed on real news network discusses the class war starting in greece and the panic among the Euro rich and powerful that the rich might actually be taxed for a change rather than crippling the labour force and the poor with endless austerity, and how the finance ministers of currently right wing governments of spain, finland, Portugal, Ireland and germany are determined to make an example of greece to avoid contagion of these dangerous ideas which would likely lead to such governments losing upcoming elections to left wing parties read full story / add a comment

For years, a number of Irish movements have stood in solidarity with the struggle for justice, dignity, equality and freedom of the popular movements in Colombia. Now, hearing of the case of political persecution against the Water Rights movement, Colombian organisation have expressed their solidarity with the struggle of the Irish people. Peasant organisations of Cauca Valley and a broad coalition of over 50 organisations of indigenous, Afros, peasants, women and workers from the Southern jungle of Putumayo, together with refugees in Europe, have issued two statement expressing their unconditional support with those who struggle and reminding the government of Ireland of their obligation to respect the rights of the people in Ireland. read full story / add a comment

We Americans (conditioned in the Hebrew tradition) have learned to see enemies in Biblical terms as one-sidedly evil as Satan. It takes a mass media of some very sophisticated accomplishment to continually portray people like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Muammar Gaddafi, several Middle Eastern leaders as Satan. One needs to be somewhat steeped in the Biblical Literature to create such black and white conclusions. This is one legacy the Bible has bequeathed to modern politics—the absolutism of naming enemy in terms of good versus absolute evil. Israel plays a master game of such portrayal of their supposed enemies. The current leader of Syria, Bashar al-Assad is the new version of Zionist Satan, but even this casting of totally evil Muslim figure is not good enough—we have a new entity that does the most obviously sensational sins—behead journalists and engage in egregious forms of violation—the ISIS/ ISIL phenomenon that America magically armed and some claim even trained (see in alternative media) and magically uses to create even more authoritarian war powers to an already criminal torture state that Barack Obama has no power to quell. read full story / add a comment

On the weekend of 23-25 January, Irish actors, musicians and activists descended on Wales for a weekend of solidarity with WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning (formerly known as Bradley Manning) and her family.

The first Truthfest in January 2014 was the brainchild of Irish actor and activist Donal O'Kelly, an idea hatched after he met members of Manning's family during a visit to Dublin organised by Irish Australian activist Ciaron O'Reilly in collaboration with Afri (Action from Ireland) in November 2013. The links forged during that visit have been maintained and strengthened through a series of exchange visits since that time, most recently this 2nd Manning Truthfest.

Ethical human rights is firmly based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so removes the UN's 'hidden collectivist agenda' which, in my view, seeks to culturally cleanse the world of individual self-determination. read full story / add a comment

On the day that an alliance of animal welfare and conservation groups protested outside the office of main sponsor of the National Hare Coursing event, independent socialist TD for Dublin North, Clare Daly, confirmed that she was drafting a Bill to abolish the cruel so-called “sport” of hare coursing.

After the election victory of Syriza in Greece on Sunday 25th Jan, what are the chances they will implement their new anti-austerity programme and does this mean we can all follow their path. Is this a return of democracy -i.e. the will of the people. And can the rest of us follow them?

TTIP is an undermining of hard won labour rights, citizen consumer and environmental protections and an erosion of the notion of democracy. We need to resist this blatant corporate power and resource grab Now. Meeting in Galway this week discussed and highlighted the insidious and secretive corporate and government collusion against EU citizenry that is TTIP. A report of the meeting follows.. read full story / add a comment

The Taoiseach ,The arms dealers ,his money and the Gulf war.The arrival of an obscure millionaire to Massbrook Pontoon Co Mayo in the later part of the last century was cloaked in secrecy. Across the lake of Lough Conn the home town of Charles Haughey and Enda Kenny ,Castlebar was to be the recruiting ground for one of the largest arms controversies in modern times and the key issue that led to the Gulf War.

The project leader of the controversial film, “Gray State,” along with his wife and daughter, were found dead in their home in what authorities have labeled an “apparent murder-suicide.”

The bodies of David Crowley, 29, his wife Komel, 28, and their 5-year-old daughter were discovered lying in their home by a neighbor.

David and Komel Crowley David and Komel Crowley
The Crowley family had not been seen since before Christmas, and neighbors assumed that they were on an extended vacation. Neighbor Collin Prochnow said he grew concerned when packages piled up on the couple’s doorstep and he heard a dog barking inside read full story / add a comment

Consider it of profound concern that the UN's 'hidden collectivist agenda' seeks to eliminate God and Universal Truth. Also, Islamic terrorists should be told that at the UN it was very largely America, with some Western support, which opposed the secularization of the whole Universal Declaration. read full story / add a comment

Over 500,000 people were reached on January 6, 2015, Oscar's 72nd birthday, as the National Boricua Human Rights Network and La Respuesta coordinated the "Social Media Campaign for Oscar López." Using various hashtags (e.g. #freeoscarlopez, #gift4oscar, #regalopaoscar) on Twitter primarily, but also Facebook and Instagram, the campaign publicly brought together a broad spectrum of supporters, from Calle 13's René Pérez to actor Luis Guzmán; from NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito to Congress members Nydia Velázquez and Luis Gutiérrez, from blogs like Latino Rebels to newspapers like El Nuevo Día. read full story / add a comment

Spun as an anti-Semitic affair in light of Friday’s events at the kosher supermarket, the majority of the mayhem’s victims in fact fell on Wednesday in the Charlie Hebdo massacre, framing events rather in the light of NATO’s past Gladio false flag anti-Communist operations in Western Europe and exposing both the spin and events as the most corrupt of manipulations. read full story / add a comment